Good idea per TheTeamx3: Someone with a lot of time should assemble this all Michigan team on madden and sim a season.

Reading the NFL Wolverines breakdown got me to thinking, could an all-Michigan alumni team be competitive in the NFL? Where would they fall in the 0-16 to 16-0 range? Depth is obviously an issue, so let's assume we live in a happy world where injuries are just fanciful things that only exist in our imagination. This also means Koger is healthy this year.

RB and OL are our biggest concerns. We'd have to shift a center over to guard, or do some similar movement on the line.

As a follow up, what other teams could make the claim? USC and ...? Texas? OSU and Bama don't have QB's for the league. Nobody can really claim a two-deep without any holes. Michigan may have the most evenly spread talent in the league.

I'm sure I'm not the first to bring up this notion on this site, but I haven't seen a thread like this at all. So here is my tentative two deep for the good guys:

Well if we are going back a few years, then we should look at Tim Biakabatuka. If I remember correctly (I was younger so I may not) didn't he have a fairly good rookie year and he looked like he was going to be a good RB if not for doestroying both of his knees in back-to-back years.

That is just two guys to name from the last few years that had NFL potential / were drafted. But to answer your question, no a team made up of Michigan alumni would not compete in the NFL. Too many good players on all teams in the league.

There are no former U of M running/fullbacks in the NFL. I think Askew may have played a little last year, but I do believe he's now gone. That being said, who needs runningbacks when you have an incredible O-line, a legendary QB and one of the most amazing defenses that could possibly be assembled.

He was then actually picked up by the Eagles for 2011 but sustained ANOTHER season ending injury in camp (I believe it was Achilles...but with him who knows). But this year he was technically still on the team (he had been on IR) but the problems of missing 3 (!!!) straight seasons due to 3 different injuries effectiviely ended his career.

I have a hard time thinking any team could field a consistently competitive team. If you just start by looking at the QBs in the league, a number of them went to schools that don't produce enough NFL players to even fill a roster. When I look simply at starting QBs, I'm thinking Florida State, Tennessee, Georgia, Oklahoma, USC, Auburn, and UM. So already looking at just one of 22 positions, the list is down to 7 that are possibilities. Sure, you could look into backup QBs and make a case for someone like Texas or ND, but there's also a reason those guys are backups. They can't win on a team filled with other talent, let alone a team scraping by at multiple positions.

As soon as you go into QB/RB combos, the crown thins even more. You're down to Oklahoma, Tennessee, and USC. There are two other X Factor teams that I didn't include in the original list that actually make the cut this far: Cal with Rodgers and Lynch, and Miss with Eli and Green-Ellis. I'm just not sure without looking into it more that either of those schools produce enough at other positions.

Bottom line - no, a UM team could not compete in the league. 2-14 is probably a best-case scenario. But I think that's true for almost any team. Some schools, including UM, are probably 2-5 starters away from being able to compete just with starters, but then yes, the obvious depth issues are apparent.

This is actually somthing that I used to do all the time. If I remember correctly, right around the time of Brady's NFL emergence Michigan could have fileded a pretty good team. I think the weak spot then was safety (surprise), and I remember slotting DeWayne Patmon in there because he was on a practice squad somewhere.

Right now, OL depth seems a bit of a problem, as do DBs, but we could assemble one hell of a starting front-7.

Also, as others have mentioned, the lack of RB doesn't really scare me. That position (especially in the NFL) is more and more becoming a collection of interchangeable guys who you run until their legs collapse underneath them.

Looking across that roster, as much as I love those guys, the only spot where you're above average for an NFL team is QB. O-line is maybe close to average, though it's pretty think on the interior, and the LB are probably a solid average as far as NFL starters go.

I would think the O-Line is at the very least average if you move Goodwin - who has started every game since 08 - to gaurd along with Hutch (7x pro bowler). Then Long (4x pro bowler and best lineman in the leauge) paired with Backus, who as much heat as he takes has been above average his whole career. Then, Baas is an average center.

There are maybe sixty teams who compete for elite recruits, and another twenty or so from whom an occasional "sleeper" or "late bloomer" develops into an NFL player. There are 32 teams in the NFL. This creates a rather obvious numerical disparity.

Even Alabama would have a problem fielding an NFL team of alums because of the QB position. It's been awhile since Namath and Stabler played. I am thinking that USC is the only school that could field a decent NFL team.

It could've happened a few years ago. Now the roster would be a little thin, or old. We could still probably beat the Jaguars, Browns, and Panthers. When Brady was first starting we still had guys like Jon Runyan, Jumbo Elliot, Jon Jansen, Glen Steele, James Hall, Dhani Jones, Cato June, Ty Law, BJ Askew, and Tyrone Wheatley playing.

Miami would be pretty good... except who would their QB be?! They don't have an active QB in the NFL, and I'm not really sure who they have had recently to call up. The only one I can remember playing is Ken Dorsey, and not only has that been a while, but he was a bust. There may be a couple since him, but can't think of them being starters or anything. They would have an awesome defense to keep them in games, and then Frank Gore too, but without a QB, they might find trouble.

Texas' only QB in the NFL is McCoy, who is a backup for the winless Browns. He might have enough talent around him to get the job done though.

USC has Palmer, Sanchez, and Cassel, but not sure who they would throw too. Brady gets it done with lesser known guys, so its not that big of deal. They would have a pretty good defense, so they might be the team we would have to worry about the most.

I've thought about this too, but mine was more of how would our alums in the NFL do against other schools' alums in the NFL, rather than against current NFL teams. If you're just doing active players or people who could be called up and play today(sans injury) I think we would be one of the better teams.

The most important position is QB so you have to have a quality QB to build around. We would be fine there, and would give us an edge. Look at some of the other starting QBs. Roethlisberger-Miami(OH), Flacco-Delaware, Romo-Eastern Illinois. Even Ryan-Boston College , Rivers-NC St & Brees-Purdue would probably have a tough time being able to form a full team to be competitive.

OSU sends a lot to the NFL, but even they would have a hard time competing. For QB they would pretty much be limited to Troy Smith, and .............PRYOR! USC would have some depth at QB: Palmer, Cassel, Sanchez, and would have a solid LB crew + Polamalu, but the QBs wouldn't really have anyone to throw to.

assuming we're talking about these guys when they're fresh out of college w/ no nfl experience, i'd say they wouldn't be very competitive. maybe win 3-5 games, if that. at the end of the day, they'd still be rookies.

Another interesting discussion is how many NFL teams would the elite college teams (e.g. Alabama) beat, if any? I've always wondered if the best college team could match up against the worst NFL team. Probably not, but its an interesting discussion.

Keep in mind that Alabama's players wouldn't even be rookies in the NFL right now. It's pretty rare for a rookie, however talented, to make an impact at most positions. Whatever his talent level, McCarron would be a disaster as a rookie QB. Alabama's current OL will probably produce several very good NFL starters eventually, but other than freaks like Joe Thomas or Jake Long, it's rare for a rookie offensive lineman to even be average in the NFL, so collectively the unit would almost certianly be well below average. Same thing with rookie receivers - unless you have a physical marvel like A.J. Green or Julio Junes, they probably won't make a significant impact. So you end up with an offense that would probably be one of the worst in the league overall, at very best.

It's easier for young defenders to make an impact, but even they have an adjustment period. Look at other highly regarded recent Alabama alums: Donta Hightower was an absolute stud at Alabama last year, but he's struggling somewhat with the Patriots this year. Terrence Cody went through a similar adjustment period when he was no longer the most physically imposing player on the field every play. Kareem Jackson was a lockdown corner in college, but barely an adequate starter in the NFL.

And those are only the guys who are making it. Alabama has had 18 guys drafted in the first 4 rounds of the last 4 NFL drafts, which is a ton. But if you were forming a NFL roster from the last 4 Alabama classes, which probably approximates the talent level of this year's team, 2/3 of your roster would have to be late-round guys or undrafted free agents. You would be counting on significant contributions from a bunch of guys who aren't thought of as quality NFL players by most people.

So in short, although this Alabama team is crazy talented, it's completely unrealistic to expect any college team to be remotely competitive in the NFL.

Well since we're assuming injuries don't exist...gotta hope that Charles Woodson could average around 4 yds/carry - all Brady would need out of the run game. Maybe even hand the ball off to Molk every once in a while for a little thunder/lightning action!

The problem with doing current NFL UofM players is they're getting long in the tooth. Put a roster together 3-4 years ago minimum and we'd have a fairly good team. Now they would likely be a 3-6 game winner at best. Even on an all time we'd be thin at RB as few of our guys have had much success in the NFL, but with a great passing game that helps an average RB be better than they are.